Vote for Arik Armstead in Nationwide's annual Charity Challenge on X (formerly Twitter) by posting #WPMOYChallenge along with "Arik Armstead" or "@arikarmstead". The Faithful can also vote for Armstead directly on NFL.com/ManOfTheYear.

The San Francisco 49ers announced DL Arik Armstead as their 2023 nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award presented by Nationwide, marking his fourth-consecutive nomination.

Considered one of the NFL's most prestigious awards, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recognizes NFL players for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.

Armstead's fourth-consecutive nomination demonstrates his steadfast dedication and commitment to the community. Since 2019, the defensive lineman has helped raise and personally donated over $2 million in support of Sacramento and Bay Area youth.

This year, Armstead's significant community investments through his time and donations were even grander than his 6'7" stature. Centered on social justice, he cemented his commitment to education equity through his foundation, the Armstead Academic Project, established in 2019. Through his foundation, Armstead hosts story times, youth football camps, college field trips, free health and wellness fairs and provides resources, warm meals and school supplies.

The most notable feature of Armstead's dedication to the community is not just the number of lives he's impacted, but his commitment to real change. Armstead's ethos that "a zip code should not define student opportunity" is one that pushes him beyond event-based impact and into outcome-based programming to close critical academic gaps.

"Being the nominee for the team has been amazing," Armstead shared on the latest 49ers You've Got Mail podcast episode. "We have a team that truly believes in the work that needs to be done to create change in our society. It starts at the top with the York family, everything that they believe in, and it trickles down to our teammates, our organization, our staff... Everybody has a heart of wanting to to think outside of ourselves and be impactful in our community.

"Representing that is a huge honor and very humbling. I don't take that lightly. It validates the the work that we're all trying to accomplish and it provides an even bigger platform to serve more and do more. It's amazing being a nominee, representing our team, representing where I'm from, represent my family. There's a lot of people that I'm sure are very proud. I want to represent them the right way."

The Faithful are encouraged to participate in Nationwide's annual Charity Challenge, a social media and online contest that allows fans to show support for their favorite Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee. 49ers Fans can vote on X (formerly Twitter) by posting #WPMOYChallenge along with "Arik Armstead" or "@arikarmstead". The Faithful can also vote for Armstead directly on NFL.com/ManOfTheYear.

WPMOYChallenge votes count as double on Tuesday, January 2nd and Wednesday, January 3rd. The Faithful even have a chance to win an Armstead autographed jersey by simply reposting this @49ers X post!

The nominee who receives the most collective hashtag mentions and votes will win an additional $35,000 donation from Nationwide to the charity of their choice, with the runner-up receiving $10,000 and the third-place winner receiving $5,000. Charity Challenge voting takes place from December 5th to January 8th.